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Chapter 1
My room is pitch black, and the house silent, except for the murmuring whispers of the wind that are begging me to come find it.
I peel my eyelids open and climb out of bed, padding over to the window where I peer out into the night. The yard is blanketed in darkness with the trees towering in the distance.
“Can you hear me, Sky?” Vines of darkness dance around in the field just beyond the house. “Come to me. Join me. You can be my queen.”
“Stop saying that,” I whisper as I shiver. “I’m not your queen, and I never will be.”
Darkness laughs, the tendrils hovering. “Then you’ll die.”
I wait for darkness to come to me, to try to take me away, but they don’t budge. They just hover in the distance, as if they can’t reach me. Maybe they can’t. Perhaps the spells around the house are making it so they can’t get to me.
I’m safe here.
Darkness purrs with laughter. “You may be, but you have to leave eventually. Just like you’ll leave the Everettsons eventually. And when you do, you’ll be mine.”
The tendrils shift, slipping away and giving me a better view of the trees and the road and the figures lurking in the shadows.
Hunters.
I don’t know how I know. I just do.
“Now that we’ve found you, I’m not about to let you go,” darkness warns. “You’ll be mine—”
Sunlight filters in through the windows, pulling me from my nightmare. Well, and the feeling that someone is standing beside my bed.
“Hey, hey, hey, you want to know a secret?”
As my eyelids flutter open, I’m greeted by a green-eyed, hairy-faced, warty-nosed … Well, I’m not even sure what it is.
I gasp, bolting upright and scooting across the bed as far away from the creature as I can get.
Its grey lips part, revealing a set of sharp fangs. “Don’t be afraid, little one.” But the purr in its voice only spikes my fear.
Panicking, I clumsily dive off the bed, landing face-first on the hardwood floor.
“Ow,” I grimace as pain radiates from my forehead.
I promptly chuck the pain aside as the thudding of footsteps hammering against the floor fills the room.
“Easy, easy, easy. I’m not going to hurt you.” The creature appears near the foot of the bed, giving me a good view of its stubby, hairy legs, its short arms, and its rounded body covered by clothes that look two sizes too small for it.
“W-what are you?” I sputter as I stumble to my feet and step away from it.
It counters with a pleased grin. “An elemental protector who doesn’t know what I am? Oh, what a delight!” It claps its hands in excitement and, for a faltering moment, my fear morphs into puzzlement. But then its expression darkens, its fangs growing as its eyes light up with what I can only describe as hunger. “Lucky me.” Its voice is different this time, lower and rumbling with desire. Then, with a grin, it barrels toward me.
I stumble backward, bumping into the wall. Then I let out a string of curses, jump onto the bed, and leap to the other side.
The crazy creature mimics my move, scrambling after me as I sprint for the door.
As I reach the hallway, I scan all the shut doors. With all the chaos that’s been going on for the last couple of days, I never got a tour, so I’m not sure what door leads to where, except for the one the faery’s hidden behind, the bathroom, and the attic. Since the Everettsons aren’t your ordinary family and have things like faeries hidden behind doors, I’m a bit reluctant to just run into a random room, so I haul ass for the bathroom, figuring it’s my safest bet.
My skin is scalding hot, and I can almost smell a potential fire brewing as I reach the closed bathroom door.
